Minutes under the belt

Wednesday face the first of three friendly fixtures in Portugal this evening against newly-promoted Primeira Liga side Portimonense.

Following this morning’s training session, midfielder Adam Reach says the squad are looking forward to their first Portuguese test.

Primarily, the game will give the Owls vital minutes under the belt as preparations step up another notch ahead of the Championship curtain-raiser on 5 August.

Reach said: “Preparations are really good, training has been tough and we are now preparing for the first game tonight.

“We’ll have to manage the heat because it will be hard but the important thing is we get the minutes we need.

“Hopefully we can get the win as well. Everyone adjusts to these conditions differently, it’s very hot but you get the work out of it which is what you come over here for.

“I’m sure I’ll get some good fitness out of the game tonight and hopefully put in another good performance.”

On tonight’s game with Portimonense, which takes place at Estádio Municipal de Albufeira (7.00pm), he added:

“Portuguese sides are always typically good on the ball, they like to keep it and make you run around but it’s also what we want to do to them because of the heat, we don’t want to spend 90 minutes chasing.

“We’ve got our game plan, we’re heading into the season soon so we want to start implementing game plans and coming out with wins.”